2013 Budget Spending Up 18%

The Iraqi Council of Ministers has approved a draft budget of 138 trillion dinars ($115 billion) for 2013, an 18 percent increase on this year’s spending programme.

The figures are based on expected average oil prices of $90 per barrel, and exports of 2.9 million barrels of oil per day, of which 250 thousand bpd are planned from the Kurdistan region, Ali Al Dabbagh said in a statement.

Forty percent of the proposed budget is allocated for capital investments, with the rest set for the payment of salaries and other government operations.

The main priorities of the spending programme are electricity and security, which account for 21 percent and 14 percent of the proposed budget respectively.